Piran, a delightful Slovenian fishing village, is the catch of the day for tourists.
Watched over by a hilltop belfry, with an old town clustered around a tidy square and bustling boat-speckled harbor, Piran has all the best parts of the Adriatic Coast in miniature.
As with other attractions in Slovenia, a country that was once part of the former Yugoslavia, Piran is quaint and friendly. Squeezed between Italy and Croatia, Slovenia’s 29-mile coast nets only a few small-fry villages, but Piran’s a keeper.
While many coastal resort towns offer tourists an overabundance of concrete, Piran has kept itself charming and in remarkably good repair. Be warned that in summer, it can be flooded with Italian vacationers and feel a bit overwhelming at first. But if you stick around a while, the very presence of all the exuberant Italians becomes part of Piran’s charm, reminding you of the town’s connection to the Italy of centuries ago.
Piran (Pirano in Italian) is home to a long-standing Italian community (about 1,500 today), so it’s legally bilingual, with signs in two languages. As with most towns on the Adriatic, it has a romantic Venetian flair. Piran wisely signed on with Venice to become part of its trading empire in 933. Ruled by the Austrian Hapsburgs two centuries ago, the region became part of Yugoslavia in 1956. And in 1991, with the creation of Slovenia, the citizens of Piran were finally independent.
Just a short distance from Venice, Piran makes an easy side trip from Italy, and is a fun, handy gateway to Eastern Europe. A boat called the Prince of Venice – designed for day-trippers, but also convenient for one-way transport – sails from Venice to Izola (near Piran) four times each week in peak season; allow about $36 to $50 one-way. Once a week from May through September, Italian-run Venezia Lines does a similar trip, running directly between Venice and Piran (about $54, www.venezialines.comcq).
You can see everything in Piran within an hour’s walk, including its port, piers and sights. Piran is small. Its population, which was 7,500 a century ago, has dropped to about 4,200 today. Plan to just bask in the town’s ambience, rather than load up your schedule with sightseeing.
Piran is proud of its many churches, numbering more than 20, a sizable amount for a small town. While none is of any real historic or artistic importance, the Cathedral of St. George, dating from the 14th century and decorated Baroque by Venetian artists in the 17th century, is worth a look. It dominates the old town with its bell tower (“campanile” in Italian), a miniature version of the more famous one in Venice.
The tower, with bells dating from the 15th century, welcomes tourists willing to pay 50 cents to climb 146 rickety steps for the best view in town. Stand inside the biggest bell. Chant, find the resonant frequency and ring the clapper ever so softly. Snap a portrait of you, your partner and the rusty clapper. Brace yourself for fortissimo clangs on the quarter hour.
For a calmer end to your day, enjoy a cold gelato or a hot kava (coffee) on the sleek, marbled Tartini Square, surrounded by neoclassical buildings and watched over by the bell tower.
Head a few blocks south to wander the piers and catch the glow of Piran at sunset. Teater Cafe, just north of the port, has an old-time interior and is the best place for drinks with seaside views. Catching the sunset here is a fine way to end your time in picturesque Piran, enjoying the sparkling eastern shore of the Adriatic.
Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 30 European travel guidebooks, including “Europe Through the Back Door.” He hosts a public radio show, “Travel with Rick Steves” (Saturdays at 2 p.m. on KUOW 94.9 FM) and the public television series “Rick Steves’ Europe” on KCTS, airing some weeknights at 7 p.m. This week’s schedule:
Wednesday: Berlin: Resilient, Reunited and Reborn
Thursday: Germany’s Romantic Rhine and Rothenburg Friday: Munich and the Foothills of the Alps
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